The US-Israeli attacks on Iran came as no surprise. Equally unsurprising has been the European reaction to these illegal attacks. The Emperor has no clothes, and we must resist this power politics with true solidarity with the people paying the highest price for these atrocities.

Last weekend saw another illegal act of aggression against a sovereign state by the United States and Israel. as 165 innocent schoolgirls were killed in Minab, and the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has now also been confirmed dead, along with many other top officials.

European complacency

And what is the response of European leaders to this unnecessary carnage and suffering? They are rushing to condemn the Iranian counterstrikes on US bases in the Gulf states. Our new government here in the Netherlands – home to the International Criminal Court – chose to “observe the situation”, meaning they quietly watch from the sidelines while the US and Israel once again wipe their feet on international law.

Spain is the only European state that has had the courage to call this what it is: a blatant violation of international law, and to call out the lies that were used to legitimise these attacks.

Dreams of regime change

Some – most notably Donald Trump – have called this an opportunity for the Iranian people to take control of their country. This is wishful thinking at best and clearly not legitimate under international law. This is not the first strike against the Iranian regime, and it is well prepared to rebuild its command structures in no time. What follows is likely to be even harsher for the Iranian people. In other words, this brutality is not only illegal and futile in terms of regime change, it is also counterproductive to the well-being of the Iranian people.

The Emperor has no clothes and we pay the price

It should be clear by now that the Emperor has had no clothes for quite some time. These kinds of campaigns are not meant to help people on the ground or bring democracy or peace – quite the opposite. They are engineered to create new perpetual wars to keep the lucrative weapons industry going. Meanwhile, at home, our many crises – from the cost of living to environmental degradation and many other issues – can conveniently be sidelined by the “security threats” arising from these wars.

We must urgently move away from this politics of power that benefits only those who have it. Instead, we should embrace a politics of solidarity with the people who currently pay the price for these failing policies: that is 99% of us, but most urgently the Iranians, Palestinians, Venezuelans, Cubans, Congolese, Sudanese and many others who are struggling for their lives under various forms of tyranny – whether imposed from abroad or enforced at home.

Let’s come together and organise against the tyrannies that oppress us. United we stand!

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